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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,144 |
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New Member
Argentina
44 Posts |
I remember a story by R. L. Stevenson about a cursed bottle, which was inhabited by a fellow who could grant wishes, which sounds cool, except that if the person dies while still owning the bottle, their soul would be destroyed. So no Heaven.   The owner could only get rid of the bottle by selling it for a lower price that they had bought it. So, the main character is this guy who bought the bottle for a cent. He desperately started looking for a country using a coin of a lower denomination, so he could sell the bottle there. He eventually went to French Polynesia, Tahiti, where the lowest denomination was a fraction of a cent, and sold the bottle there. I tried to find the coin Stevenson referenced, but I couldn't find it. Perhaps it was just his invention. Anyway, I find it a nice story about coin hunting. Now two questions: 1. Have you ever desperately hunted for a coin? I mean, not as desperately as if you were going to lose your soul or something, but desperately as being crazy about having that particular coin in your collection? Like travelling long distances, or paying high prices, in order to get that coin?  2. Do you know any other stories in literature about coins? My dad, who's also a collector, once wrote a short tale titled "Story of a sovereign" which is narrated by the coin itself (it's fiction, remember), and it speaks proudly about its previous owners, rich people, members of the nobility, etc., until it gets stolen by a serf or someone of a poorer social condition, so the coin starts to live with a different sort of people and needs to adapt and understand them: how they treat the coin, what they buy, the other coins present near it, etc. No more guineas, only copper money! The story is written in Spanish, but it might be among other stories which were translated to English. I will see if I can find it.  Edited by JulioEC
03/05/2023 11:27 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7617 Posts |
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
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Moderator
 United States
34397 Posts |
That would be "the bottle imp" I believe and the unit of money was a Centime, worth one fifth of a cent. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article, including a summary of this short story: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bottle_ImpAdded: sorry I just noticed that you gave the name of the short story in your thread title. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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New Member
 Argentina
44 Posts |
Thank you, Spence! I looked for that Centime coin in numerous catalogues, with no luck. I only found 10 Centimes coins for French Polynesia in that period. So the coin was probably a piece of fiction too?
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Moderator
United States
34397 Posts |
Good question—you are right that numista doesn't seem to have a denomination below 50 Centimes. Here is a link to a Tahitian stamp with a 2 Centime face value. I see a similar stamp with a 5 Centime face value. Maybe one of our world coin experts will weigh in on this matter in the next few days. http://www.stampedia.net/stamp/cata...mp,447688/en"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3641 Posts |
Very interesting! Regarding literature about coins, if I think long enough I'm sure I'll think of more but funny enough the first one that came to mind was a kid's book I read back in the late 1960's - The Mystery of the Million Dollar Penny (A Power Boys Adventure). I was a big fan of The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc., and my Mom bought me a complete set of the Power Boys adventures. I think it was only about a half-dozen or so books, and I loved them. This particular book stuck with me because I was a beginning coin collector at the time. So, not great literature, but the proper subject!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17911 Posts |
Quote:
Good question—you are right that numista doesn't seem to have a denomination below 50 Centimes. During the period when the story was set, the standard French bronze 1, 2, 5 and 10-centime coins would have circulated in French Polynesia. 5 centimes in 1891, when the story was written, was worth about one British halfpenny (480 to £1) and £1 was then worth about $5, so a French one-centime coin would indeed have been worth about a fifth of a cent.  Edited by NumisRob
03/06/2023 04:28 am
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New Member
Argentina
44 Posts |
But NumisRob, then it would have been easier for the character to travel to France, rather than to Tahiti. I think it needs to be a colonial coin or something like that?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19140 Posts |
On the margins of literature, music--with lyrics--can be found. Some interesting coin references include; On Broadway...
'Cause how you gonna make some time
When all you got is one thin dime
And one thin dime won't even shine your shoes
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New Member
Argentina
44 Posts |
But if the dime was minted on the right year, or contains a significant error, then you can do more than shine your shoes!
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
then it would have been easier for the character to travel to France, rather than to Tahiti Considering that they started from Hawaii, I suspect Tahiti was probably closer. I hadn't read the story, but it wouldn't surprise me if Tahiti was the only option they considered. At the time the Chinese cash was worth 1/10 of a cent, and IIRC some other places had denominations going even further down. |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,144 |
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Posted 03/05/2023 11:52 pm
